Gaza Graffiti Artists Bedeck Houses Destroyed by Israel in War 

A Palestinian girl sits on the remains of a destroyed house, next to a graffiti of a missile drawn by Hussein Abu Sadeq, on houses destroyed by Israel in recent Israeli-Gaza fighting, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip June 8, 2023. (Reuters)
A Palestinian girl sits on the remains of a destroyed house, next to a graffiti of a missile drawn by Hussein Abu Sadeq, on houses destroyed by Israel in recent Israeli-Gaza fighting, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip June 8, 2023. (Reuters)
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Gaza Graffiti Artists Bedeck Houses Destroyed by Israel in War 

A Palestinian girl sits on the remains of a destroyed house, next to a graffiti of a missile drawn by Hussein Abu Sadeq, on houses destroyed by Israel in recent Israeli-Gaza fighting, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip June 8, 2023. (Reuters)
A Palestinian girl sits on the remains of a destroyed house, next to a graffiti of a missile drawn by Hussein Abu Sadeq, on houses destroyed by Israel in recent Israeli-Gaza fighting, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip June 8, 2023. (Reuters)

Graffiti artists in Gaza have painted murals on the remains of houses destroyed in an Israeli missile strike during cross-border fighting in May.

On one wall the artists depicted a woman holding her son. On another a boy is painted with tears in his eyes. A third shows a girl, seen through a mirror, combing her hair.

Piles of rubble still encircle the houses in the town of Deir al-Balah. Parts of exploded Israeli missiles were placed on tables for display.

"Out of suffering, pain, and siege, we derive hope, art, and victory," said artist Hussein Abu Sadeq. "We drew on the rubble so we can get the message through using a brush and colour."

Gaza, home to 2.3 million people and ruled by the Hamas movement, is blockaded by Israel.

In May, Israel launched a campaign against commanders of the Islamic Jihad group who it said had planned attacks in Israel. In response, the Iranian-backed group fired more than 1,000 rockets, sending Israelis fleeing into bomb shelters.

Israel killed six senior Islamic Jihad commanders and said it destroyed a number of military installations. Fifteen Palestinian civilians, including women and children, were also killed, according to Palestinian health officials.

In Israel, two people - an Israeli woman and a Palestinian laborer - were killed by Palestinian rocket fire in Israel.

"We collected those remains (of missiles) after the bombardment," said Mohammad Thuraya, an organizer of an exhibition of the art work on Sunday. "One missile destroyed a neighbourhood and destroyed the lives of ten families who used to live here."



Lebanon's Public Schools Reopen amid War and Displacement

Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)
Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)
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Lebanon's Public Schools Reopen amid War and Displacement

Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)
Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)

In the quiet seaside town of Amchit, 45 minutes north of Beirut, public schools are finally in session again, alongside tens of thousands of internally displaced people who have made some of them a makeshift shelter.

As Israeli strikes on Lebanon escalated in September, hundreds of schools in Lebanon were either destroyed or closed due to damage or security concerns, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Of around 1,250 public schools in Lebanon, 505 schools have also been turned into temporary shelters for some of the 840,000 people internally displaced by the conflict, according to the Lebanese education ministry.

Last month, the ministry started a phased reopening, allowing 175,000 students - 38,000 of whom are displaced - to return to a learning environment that is still far from normal, Reuters reported.

At Amchit Secondary Public School, which now has 300 enrolled students and expects more as displaced families keep arriving, the once-familiar spaces have transformed to accommodate new realities.

Two-and-a-half months ago, the school was chosen as a shelter, school director Antoine Abdallah Zakhia said.

Today, laundry hangs from classroom windows, cars fill the playground that was once a bustling area, and hallways that used to echo with laughter now serve as resting areas for families seeking refuge.

Fadia Yahfoufi, a displaced woman living temporarily at the school, expressed gratitude mixed with longing.

"Of course, we wish to go back to our homes. No one feels comfortable except at home," she said.

Zeina Shukr, another displaced mother, voiced her concerns for her children's education.

"This year has been unfair. Some children are studying while others aren't. Either everyone studies, or the school year should be postponed," she said.

- EDUCATION WON'T STOP

OCHA said the phased plan to resume classes will enrol 175,000 students, including 38,000 displaced children, across 350 public schools not used as shelters.

"The educational process is one of the aspects of resistance to the aggression Lebanon is facing," Education Minister Abbas Halabi told Reuters

Halabi said the decision to resume the academic year was difficult as many displaced students and teachers were not psychologically prepared to return to school.

In an adjacent building at Amchit Secondary Public School, teachers and students are adjusting to a compressed three-day week, with seven class periods each day to maximize learning time.

Nour Kozhaya, a 16-year-old Amchit resident, remains optimistic. "Lebanon is at war, but education won't stop. We will continue to pursue our dreams," she said.

Teachers are adapting to the challenging conditions.

"Everyone is mentally exhausted ... after all this war is on all of us," Patrick Sakr, a 38-year-old physics teacher, said.

For Ahmad Ali Hajj Hassan, a displaced 17-year-old from the Bekaa region, the three-day school week presents a challenge, but not a deterrent.

"These are the conditions. We can study despite them," he said.